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A Champion for the Children

By Shakta Khalsa

In honor of being invited to write this blog, and in honor of the awareness about children that I received from Yogi Bhajan, I felt it appropriate to begin with this poem. When Yogi Bhajan spoke about children, my antennae would perk up and grow a bit longer in order to pick up the signal. I really heard him. No matter what words and examples he used, in essence he was saying, “These children are not what you think they are, and neither are you. They/you are much, much, more than you appear. Keep your eyes and ears, and antennae open, and discover!” This blog is about some of what I’ve discovered, and continue to discover about myself and about children. I invite you to join the conversation!

Why

This is what brings me the greatest joy--To be a champion for the child’s spirit,A guardian of their simple and profound perspective,A fierce warrior for their natural right to liveIn safety, innocence, and joy.

This is why I do this work.

Through this effort, small as it may be on a world scale,I am blessed a billion times over every time I am in their company.Sometimes our meeting results in an outpouring of love.Sometimes it is a lesson in staying presentWith something we both might want to run away from.

But I find that as long as I let them inThese authentic humans that we call childreHave the capacity to keep me truthfulJust one look, one smile,One simple sentence from themAnd I know I am in the right place.

Shakta Khalsa writes this blog and has been teaching yoga and children for over 3 decades. She is author of several yoga books, mother of a teenager, happily married to Kartar for over 30 years, and founder of the Radiant Child Yoga program, a teacher training program for keeping kids joyful, aware, strong, and beautiful. It works for us adult children too.